NSW Ombudsman to investigate police strike force

A New South Wales strike force set up to examine police corruption will itself be investigated by the Ombudsman.

Strike Force Emblems was launched in 2003 to investigate allegations of corruption and abuse of power in the police force.

It was set up three years after a warrant was granted permitting the surveillance of more than a hundred police officers and two civilians.

Premier Barry O'Farrell says the Police Integrity Commission and the Ombudsman have agreed Strike Force Emblems should be investigated.

In a statement, Mr O'Farrell says the decision for the Ombudsman to conduct an independent investigation was made following a number of complaints and submissions against the strike force.

Greens MP David Shoebridge has raised concerns that the Ombudsman does not have the power to conduct an effective investigation.

Mr Shoebridge says any investigation by the Ombudsman will be ineffectual.

"The Ombudsman himself made it clear to me when I spoke to him at the end of last month that he did not have sufficient powers," he said.

"What is required is a full judicial inquiry with a full set of powers to pierce the secrecy provisions that the Crime Commission and the Police Integrity Commission have hidden behind for more than a decade."

A former assistant commissioner Clive Small agrees it should be an open and transparent inquiry with the powers of a Royal Commission.

"They constitute allegations of systemic misconduct and corruption, not only within the police, but possibly within other organisations as well including the Crime Commission and the Police Integrity Commission," he said.

"That's a pretty big allegation, it's very serious and it's something where the public of New South Wales needs to have confidence in both the inquiry and the result."

The Police Integrity Commissioner is still considering a request from Mr O'Farrell to publicly release a Strike Force Emblems report examining the surveillance of police officers.